How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts?
In class we often discuss the skills necessary to be a successful 21st century learner. My teaching partner and I think that providing students with collaborative opprotunities is essential to enforce the learning that is taking place. For this problem, students will work individually on their research, proposal, and ceiling tile. However, they will not be working in isolation. Every step of the way, students will be required to attend critique circles with other students, as well as, teachers in order to make sure that they are heading in the right direction before moving on. Students will have opportunities to meet face to face, post ideas and comments on their wiki, Skype with teachers and students, and use our classroom website of Edmodo. Once the individual part of the work is done, students will use wikis, cell phones, Skype, and edmodo to meet outside of the classroom and collaborate. The students love using the technology that they have and learning how to use new technology. Once the technology is modeled and the students understand how to use it and what its purpose is, they generally run with it and come up with a million ways to use it that we didn't think of!
As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit?
We want our students to learn through discovery. We want them to know that it is okay to fail at something as long as you understand the events leading up to why something was or was not successful. We want them to be able to not only see why something went wrong, but to be able to communicate their ideas in a way that others can understand and learn from.
Students will have checkpoints that they will have to abide by and pass in order to move to the next level of the problem that way each student will be getting direction from teachers and peers. In the past, when we have not done this, some students have slipped through the crack and managed to get to the end of a project and not grasp the full understanding of what they were doing. We want to provide multiple opportunities for students to talk through their problems and get the opinions, comments, critiques, and feedbacks of others. We model effective critique circles and sessions and are active participants in small and large group critiques until the students fully engage in critique on their own.
What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?
I think grouping students is sometimes the most difficult step for me. I say this because on one hand I want kids to work with students whom they will be most successful. However, letting students pick always leaves someone out. The first thing I do when I put kids in groups, is use data to make sure that the lowest kids in class are paired with a higher kid. I use data from a program called MAPS. We take this assessment three times a year and it shows growth for each student and in what areas they struggle. Once my lower precentile students and ESOL students are addressed then I try to place the others. Personally, I prefer no more than five in a collaborative group. That allows students to have multiple perspectives and opinions, yet it isn't too large to manage. Especially in middle school, on any given day a student can and will be absent. Five allows us the flexibility of still have others to help carry the group when one or more students may be out due to illness, doctor's appointments, etc. If we find that there is a problem within a group, our students know that they need to notify one of us immediately so that together (students and teachers) we can work through the problem.
Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?
Computers for research, wiki updates, and access to class webpage. iPads can be used to take pictures, videos, update wikis, research. Digital cameras and Flip cameras to document stages of project to upload to wiki page for discussion and critique. Edmodo.com, which is our class webpage, that we use to post discussion questions, post checklists, timelines, resources, etc. Students can also set up meeting times with groups and/or teachers via Skype.
How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups? (In Module 4, you will create assessment rubrics in which you will include this element.)
Each group will be assigned a project manager. The project manager will be the spokesperson for the group and for providing feedback on how the group is working with the teachers. If there is a problem with the group, the project manager is responsible for telling the teachers and for all group members to work together to find a solution that meets the needs of the group. If there is a student who is continually giving less than the rest of the group, then the project manager can fire them from that stage of the project (this only happens if there have been multiple issues with student not on first offense). Students who are fired from projects are then required to collaborate with teachers.
In addition to project managers and checkpoints, rubrics will be used to assess student participation as well.
- How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts?
In class we often discuss the skills necessary to be a successful 21st century learner. My teaching partner and I think that providing students with collaborative opprotunities is essential to enforce the learning that is taking place. For this problem, students will work individually on their research, proposal, and ceiling tile. However, they will not be working in isolation. Every step of the way, students will be required to attend critique circles with other students, as well as, teachers in order to make sure that they are heading in the right direction before moving on. Students will have opportunities to meet face to face, post ideas and comments on their wiki, Skype with teachers and students, and use our classroom website of Edmodo. Once the individual part of the work is done, students will use wikis, cell phones, Skype, and edmodo to meet outside of the classroom and collaborate. The students love using the technology that they have and learning how to use new technology. Once the technology is modeled and the students understand how to use it and what its purpose is, they generally run with it and come up with a million ways to use it that we didn't think of!- As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit?
We want our students to learn through discovery. We want them to know that it is okay to fail at something as long as you understand the events leading up to why something was or was not successful. We want them to be able to not only see why something went wrong, but to be able to communicate their ideas in a way that others can understand and learn from.Students will have checkpoints that they will have to abide by and pass in order to move to the next level of the problem that way each student will be getting direction from teachers and peers. In the past, when we have not done this, some students have slipped through the crack and managed to get to the end of a project and not grasp the full understanding of what they were doing. We want to provide multiple opportunities for students to talk through their problems and get the opinions, comments, critiques, and feedbacks of others. We model effective critique circles and sessions and are active participants in small and large group critiques until the students fully engage in critique on their own.
- What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?
I think grouping students is sometimes the most difficult step for me. I say this because on one hand I want kids to work with students whom they will be most successful. However, letting students pick always leaves someone out. The first thing I do when I put kids in groups, is use data to make sure that the lowest kids in class are paired with a higher kid. I use data from a program called MAPS. We take this assessment three times a year and it shows growth for each student and in what areas they struggle. Once my lower precentile students and ESOL students are addressed then I try to place the others. Personally, I prefer no more than five in a collaborative group. That allows students to have multiple perspectives and opinions, yet it isn't too large to manage. Especially in middle school, on any given day a student can and will be absent. Five allows us the flexibility of still have others to help carry the group when one or more students may be out due to illness, doctor's appointments, etc. If we find that there is a problem within a group, our students know that they need to notify one of us immediately so that together (students and teachers) we can work through the problem.- Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?
Computers for research, wiki updates, and access to class webpage. iPads can be used to take pictures, videos, update wikis, research. Digital cameras and Flip cameras to document stages of project to upload to wiki page for discussion and critique. Edmodo.com, which is our class webpage, that we use to post discussion questions, post checklists, timelines, resources, etc. Students can also set up meeting times with groups and/or teachers via Skype.- How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups? (In Module 4, you will create assessment rubrics in which you will include this element.)
Each group will be assigned a project manager. The project manager will be the spokesperson for the group and for providing feedback on how the group is working with the teachers. If there is a problem with the group, the project manager is responsible for telling the teachers and for all group members to work together to find a solution that meets the needs of the group. If there is a student who is continually giving less than the rest of the group, then the project manager can fire them from that stage of the project (this only happens if there have been multiple issues with student not on first offense). Students who are fired from projects are then required to collaborate with teachers.In addition to project managers and checkpoints, rubrics will be used to assess student participation as well.